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The Hundred Dresses, A Little Book with a Long Impact by Lila Quintero Weaver

Certain children’s books reach us right where we live and hold us for a lifetime. The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, which was a Newbery Honor Book in 1945, was already a dusty classic when it stole my heart in the mid-1960s. Even so, it’s one book I can’t speak about dispassionately—not when it shines such a powerful beam into my past and present.

As most readers may recall, the story of The Hundred Dresses focuses on a social outcast named Wanda Petronski, a girl who wears the same faded dress day after day but announces that she has one hundred dresses at home. In response, a classmate named Peggy leads the other kids in a daily ritual of mockery aimed at Wanda. Eventually, it comes to light that those hundred dresses are actually drawings of dresses. But by the time the children realize their cruelty, the Petronski family has moved away.

To my eight-year-old self, Wanda Petronski presented a near-mirror. I, too, was a shy outsider skilled at drawing, with a name not many could pronounce. I was an immigrant kid in a small Southern town where precious few immigrants lived and no other Latinos besides my family. At a time when children’s book seldom featured Latino characters or children from other cultures, Wanda offered me a rare kinship.

And Wanda and I shared yet another connection, one that felt even more shameful to me. Her family was very poor. Mine, while not in the lowest bracket, was much less well-off than those of my middle-class friends. With a wardrobe consisting mostly of hand-me-downs and one pair of leather shoes meant to last me the entire school year, my choices felt sparse and humble.

The years passed. I grew up and forgot about the story until I had a daughter of my own. That’s when, reading The Hundred Dresses aloud to her, I discovered that the decades had brought a shift in my perspective. Although Wanda still haunted me and filled me with compassion, I now felt a surprising and discomfiting connection with Maddie, the narrator of the story and Peggy’s main sidekick. How had I looked past the fact that Maddie also wore hand-me-downs, which her mother took pain to disguise by sewing on new trimmings? Was it because, unlike me, Maddie was an insider—Peggy’s close friend, with no funny name to contend with? Or was there something deeper that made me reluctant to connect with her?

Identifying with Wanda meant seeing myself as blameless. Identifying with Maddie meant admitting to myself that I was complicit. In the face of Peggy’s meanness, all Maddie has to offer is a feeble, unspoken wish: “If only Peggy would decide of her own accord to stop having fun with Wanda.” As an adult, I recognized Maddie’s failure of conscience and, though I shrank form it, I knew that I, too, had acted as Maddie does, looking the other way when popular classmates mocked certain other children for their social awkwardness. My chief worry had been protecting my own fragile hold on acceptance.

Let’s face it. While the mirror that Maddie holds up is an uncomfortable one, I think that too many of us can identify with her and her wish that the Peggys of the world would decide of their own accord to be kind. But by recognizing ourselves in Maddie, I think that we have an opportunity to come of age and to make different choices, to decide deep in our bones that this will not happen. A bully will never change unless faced with fierce and unrelenting resistance. It’s up to us to square our shoulders and demand of Peggy: stop it.

LilaQuinteroWeaver was born in Argentina but grew up in Alabama, where she still lives with her husband. She is the author-illustrator of Darkroom, a graphic memoir. My Year in the Middle is her first book for young readers.

LilaQuinteroWeaver will be giving away four pieces of finished art that appear in the book to Nerdy readers! Four winners will each receive an original piece of art, a note from Lila about the art, a copy of the book, and a discussion guide. In order to enter, please leave a comment below; winners will be selected randomly from among the commenters. For residents of North America only, please.

Thank you for this beautiful post! The Hundred Dresses is an oldie but goodie; a book with a timeless message! Thank you for reminding me of its strong connection to our times! As an instructional coach I am forever panning lessons and making suggestions to teachers and you can believe that this book will be in my conversations this coming year! Bless you!

OMG – The Hundred Dresses! I loved that book. And in a weird way thinking about it always reminds me of a story my mother told me. She knew a girl in grade school who always wore the cutest dresses, and my mom asked her where she got all of her dresses. The girl learned to sew at a very young age and, with her mother’s help, made her own clothes. A few weeks later, the girl showed up at school with a package for my mom, and it was a dress that she made just for her. She told me that story as I was learning to sew – and it always stuck with me. Thanks for reminding me of a beloved book, and of a story about my mom that I will always treasure.

29 years as an elementary school librarian, I LOVE The Hundred Dresses and the thoughtful discussions that ensue in literature circles! Afterall reading is about garnering empathy or finding yourself in the story and this book inevitable, even over the years, still does both/either beautifully! Just PERFECT! Thanks for your piece. Lotsa food for thought, now more than ever!

Seeing yourself in a book character is a big part of making readers. Your article reminds us how far we have come but how far we still have to go. I love your reflection on who you identified with as an adult reading to your own child shifted. Anxious to find and read your book My Year in the Middle

This was a favorite book of mine growing up. I read it to my 5th grade students every year and discuss this very thing – how innocent is the innocent by-stander? We definitely get into some deep discussions about bullies and the ones who CAN do something about the bully, but don’t.

Lila, I met you briefly at ALA and remember how kind you were. I, too, can relate to Maddie. It’s hard to stand up to any kind of bully. I tend to want to wish it away. Each Kindness by Jackie Woodson is one I read to my students each year. The deep regret of the standby character is palpable. Thanks for writing about a tough subject.

Margaret, hello again! Thank you for dropping by to meet me at ALA. And thank you for mentioning Jackie Woodson’s book. It’s going on my “to be read” list. Hope to catch you at another bookish hangout!

This is a powerful and timeless book. While the main character never appears in the story, you learn all about her and the others from what is said. Much reflective discussion is held while reading this classic and hopefully some new courage is built through the empathy it evokes.

Your words resonate with me. I, too, had one dress, one that got washed each day, only to be worn again and again. Reading the book as a child, and then reading it to my students and own children, always warmed my heart and helped teach important life lessons.

I recently read a article entitled My Life in Books. It is fascinating to think about our childhood book loves and then when revisiting them as adults viewing them in a completely new way. I hope I instill that idea with students that we can read with fresh eyes all the time. That is the mark of a timeless book, still lessons to teach after all these years.

It is very interesting to me how timeless this story is. I read it in the early 60s as an insider, so while I realized that the point was to be kind, I don’t think I really began to appreciate other people’s stories or even realize that I had a story of my own until much later. I, too, saw the story much differently when I began using it as a teacher. I finally saw that I had a part in it and it wasn’t pretty.

I recently purchased a new copy of The Hundred Dresses for my middle school library. I was surprised by how many teachers remembered it and picked it to read aloud. Sad that bullies are a timeless tale. Glad we have these stories to help guide us.

Such a relevant book in today’s time-what a classic. I read to my classes in the library and we discuss how even though it was written in 1945 it is still true today and what we can do to help. Time to be upstanders, not bystanders.

What an wonderful article — it’s easier to identify with the blameless characters in these books, and I think we want our young children to do that, at first (as they seek understanding and develop empathy). But when a book can offer multiple perspectives on the spectrum between right and wrong, it sometimes takes maturing a few years to even attempt to understand and identify with the not-so-innocent characters. I now need to go back and re-read more of my favorite childhood books. 😊 Thank you for sharing and happy book birthday!!

Such a powerful book. I remember it from when I was a little girl and loved seeing it in my school library as a library teacher. I’ll be pulling it out for display this year alongside Each Kindness, The Invisible Boy and many of Trudy Ludwig’s books. Thanks for putting it back in my mind.

Lila, your post reminds me that, above everything else, kindness is key. The importance and messageof The Hundred Dresses needs to be reminded each school year. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

I too loved The One Hundred Dresses! When a teacher and I shared our love of the book, I reread it and urged her to do the same and share it with her second graders. Such an impactful message! Thank you for sharing your book love!

I vaguely remember reading 100 Dresses but it was long ago, I have no children, and I teach middle school. I thought there was no space in my (reading)life for the story. You just explained to me that there is room in my classroom for this classic.

I tell my students that a classic piece of literature is a book that a child and an adult can read and still learn lessons, that the classics can be reread and still hold new meanings.

I need to reread this one and maybe unpack it for meaning with my students. Thanks for reminding me of a classic.

I remember reading this book as a kid. I do think I identified more as Maddie than Wanda. Reminds me of “Each Kindness” by Jacqueline Woodson. That might be another way to talk about it with middle school kids–comparison.

Thx for the reminder of the fabulous book “100 dresses” also one of my favorites. But I love your book even more. I have purchased extra copies to give as gifts. I would LOVE a piece of your original artwork!

I have never read 100 Dresses before I can’t wait to get it and share it with my own children and my school kids. I also would adore a piece of art for our office or school library by Lila Quintero Weaver

Hello Lila. I have not read The Hundred Dresses, but after reading your essay, will add it to my must read list. But, honestly, I‘m much more interested in your books, which I have just ordered from Amazon as a gift for my daughter, Natalia Maisonnave. I can’t wait to get them and share them with her, as she shares both your family tree and a similar but different experience of growing up in this country with parents of mixed cultural backgrounds. I wish you and you family all the best.

I have always loved this book! It reminds me of my childhood growing up in a family of ten. I love to buy dresses now, but continue to love art even more. Even though I teach high school English, I know that there is room for classics like this in any classroom. Lessons in empathy are valuable at any age.

Thanks for an extraordinarily thoughtful post. I want to read it several more times as I’ve been struggling to incorporate (into a middle grade novel) the reality of my childhood in a place and time where everyone wore hand-me-downs and had limited money … yet there was a subtle sense of rank that probably had to do with hopefulness about the future. There was little overt bullying. In that small, rural community in the days before social media, there was an unwritten code against cruelty. Yet looking back, I know that kids varied in terms of their sense of self-worth and, especially, their ideas about what the future might have in store. It was moving to follow your thoughts about “then” and “now.” Your former self and present self. Thanks for sharing.

What an amazing book! Growing up in a rural community, all young girls wore home-made and hand-me-down dresses. But when I entered a beauty contest in high school in a nearby town, I was mortified to be the only one wearing a home-made gown. Brought up memories I thought I had forgotten.

When my son was in the second a grade he was purposefully excluded from a group of boys for a week. I was appalled when the next week when he was back “in” with the group he helped exclude another boy. He tearfully told me he couldn’t help his friend because the boys would then exclude him again. It pierced my heart, and I missed the opportunity to talk about courage. Even then, I was ashamed of my own reaction, and to this day, hate to admit to myself that I was the coward. We all need 100 DRESSES.

We have multiple copies of The Hundred Dresses in our guided reading library at school. As a 2nd grade teacher, I loved using this book for small group. The discussion about accepting and courage is awesome to be a part of. Thanks for sharing your story. I look forward to reading your book since the cover art is so intriguing.

Dear Nerdy Book Club, thank you for this incredible opportunity to share my heart with your readers. And thank you, readers, for the outpouring of interest and empathy you have demonstrated in these comments. I tried to respond to each commenter, but if I missed anyone, please excuse my oversight. I appreciate each and every one of you!